A JUDGE is threatening to make a wasted costs order against the Crown Prosecution Service.

It follows a case of a Caernarfon man who was due to go on trial last Wednesday for inflicting GBH with intent.

A jury was not required when the prosecution accepted a guilty plea from defendant William Sumner, 21, to the lesser charge of GBH.

But it emerged that solicitors acting on his behalf had offered a plea to the charge back in August – but the CPS had not replied.

A plea and case management hearing had been held in the summer when the offer was repeated, a trial was listed for last Wednesday, and because of commitments with other trials a jury was bussed in from Chester especially for the trial at Mold Crown Court.

Sumner, of Bro Cadfan, Rhosgadfan, near Caernarfon, was bailed pending sentence next month.

He was told that serious injuries had been inflicted, that he could expect a prison sentence, but his guilty plea would make a huge difference when it came to sentence.

But Judge John Rogers QC, the senior crown court judge for North Wales, said that he was considering a wasted costs order against the CPS and said that he would list a hearing at the end of November, in chambers, when he would expect the chief prosecutor and the lawyer in the case to attend.

It was not the first time it had happened, because a similar thing had occurred in a case last week, he explained.

The judge said that he would consider ordering the CPS to pay the cost of the jurors and witnesses who had attended, and he said that he would also like to know the defence costs by the end of the month.